Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-07-08
KING
Solomon Mines.
By Il. ELDER HAGGARD.


Sir Henry
Accordingly we ate and slipped some wa
ter, and another period of time passed,
when somebody suggested that it might be
us well to get as near to the door as possible
and halloa on the faint chance Of somebody
catching a sound outside. Accordingly
Good. who, from long practice at sea, had
fine piercing note, CROPPED his way down the
passage and began, and must say he made
a most diaboIical noise. ! never heard such
wells; but it might haze been mosquito
buzzing for all the effect it produced.
After awhile lie gave it w, and came back
very thirsty, and had TO have some water.
After that we gave mp yelling, as 1t en-
croached on the supply Of water.
So we all sat down once more against our
chest, of useless diamonds in that dreadful
inactiOn, which was one Of the hardest cir
substances of our fate; and | am bound TO
say that, for my part, / gave way in des-
pair Laying my head against Sir IIenry's
broad shoulders burst into tears; ard /
think | heard Good gulping away on the
other side, and swearing hOarSely at himself
for doing 50.
Aud 50 somehow the day went as the
,ight had gone Gf, indeed one can use the
frn, where all was densest night, and
when | lit a match to see the time it was
seven o'clock.
Once more we ate and drank. and AS we
lid so an idea occurred to me.
How is it." said |, that the air in this
place keeps fresh? 1t IS thick and heavy,
out II IS perfectly fresh"
Great hcaycns!' said Good, starting up,
Il never thought ct that. 1t can't come
through the stone door for ii is air-tight, if
.yer door was. 1t mast come from some
where. If there were no current OF air il
the place we should have been stihed when
first we came iu Let US have a look"
1t was wonderful what a change this mere
spark OF hops wrought in ~. In moment
We were all thr,c cropping about the place on
our hands and knees, feeling for the slight
est indication ofa drau Git Presently my
arIor received u cAcc& pat my hand on
something cold. 1t was poor Foulata's dead
face.
For an hour or more we went ON feeling
about, till at last Sir Henry and gave it ug
IN despair, having got considerably hurt by
constantly knnrk king our heads against tusks
chests, aud ia" sides Of the chamber. But
Good still pprsrvercd, saying, with an ap.
Ir0ach 10 chccrfulneS5 that it was better
than doing nothing.
j. say sou fellows" he said presently, in
II constrained sort Of voice, come here"
Needless to ", we scrambled over toward
him quick enough.
"Quatermain, put your hand here where
mIne is. Now, do YOU feel anything"
= mink feel air coming up"
Now listen" He ros; and stamped upon
)le place, an i iltmh of hore SLoL up in
our hearts II rang hollow.
With trembling hands lit Il match. had
only three left, and we saw that we were in
the angle Of the far corner Of the chamber, a
ftct that accounted for or not having
noticed the hollow ring Of the place during
our former exhaustive ry tnultion. As the
match burned we scrutmiz II the spot There
was a joint in the solid rock iDDr. and, great
heavens! th"r., let in level with the rock
was a stone ring We said no word, we
were too excited, and or h 'lrtS b3at too
Wildly with hope, To allow rs 10 speak
Good had Il knife, at the buck of which was
one OF those hooks that aru made 10 extract
stones from horses hOots lie opened it,
and scratched awlv At the ring with it.
Finally he got it IN Ter, and Icycrcd away
gently for fear of breaking the hook The
ring began to move. Being of stone. it had
not got set fast IN all the centuries it had
laln there, As would have been the case had
ii been of iron. Pres .nty it WIS upright.
Then hr got hr, hands into it ana tuggcd
with all his force, hut nothing budged.
Let me try" | salt iupaticntly, for the
situation ~ the stone, right IN the angle of
tine corner, was such that it was impossible
tor two Ia pulI at once | got hoId and
strained awa,, hut with no results.
Then Sir Henry tried and failed.
Taking the hook again, Good scratched all
round the crack where we felt the air com.
n4 up.
"Now, Curtis" he said tackle on, and
put your back into 1t; you are rs strong rs
two. Stop" and he took off stout black
silk handkerchief, which, true TO his habits
Of ncatncss, he still wore, and ran it through
the ring. "Qnatermain get Curtis round
the middle and pull for dear life when
give the word. Now
Sir Henry put out all his enormous
strength, and Good and did the same, with
such power rs nature had given us.
"llcav". hcavC! it's giving" gasp,d Sir
Henry; and heard the muscles or his great
back cracking. Suddenly there camo a
parting sound, then rush of air, and we
were all on our hacks on the floor with a
great nag ston" 90 the top of rs. Sir Hen
rvs strength had done It, and never did mus
GUAR power stand \ man in better stead
Light match, Quatrrmiun" he said
rs soon ~ We hat Picncd ourselves mp and
got our breath; "cLrriulty now "
dit So, and there before us vas. God be
=
Now VIA IS - be- lourp' asked Good.
FOLLOW TIVE ,lS Of course, and trust To
Providence
stop! said Sr Harry; "Qutcrmain,
get tho hit OF butong and the water that Is
left: we may want them"
went creeping back To our place by
the chests for that purpose, and ~ | was
coming away an idea struck me. We had
not thought much OF the diamonds for the
last twenty four hours or so; indeed the
diamonds W. ia n.l hat
they had entailed upon us; but thought l.
may AZ well pocket few in case we ever
should gct cut Of this CHASTITY hole. So |
Just stnck my fist ir;o the first chest and
flled all the available pockets of my old
shooting-coat, topping up-this was a happy
thought-wlth Il couple of handtuls OF big
ones out of the third chest
Il say, you fellows | sung out, won't
YOU take some diamonds with you? I've
filled my pockets"
"oh! hang the diamonds" said Sir Hen
~. " hope that may never see another"
As for Cool, ne nat;e no answer. Trc was,
ihnk, taking last farewell OF all that
was lott OF the poor girl who loved him So
we'll And, curious as it may seem TO YOU.
my reader. sitting AT home at ease and re-
tlectinC ON the vast indeed, the immeasure-
able wealth which we were thus abandoning
| can assure You that II YOU had passed some
twenty eight hours with next 10 nothing to
eat and drink IN that place, YOU would have
not cared to cumbcr yourself with diamonds |
whilst piulEtng down into the unknown |
bowels vi the earth, In the wild hope of |
escape from an agoniIiug death. II il had |
not, from the habits of a life tune become a
sort of second naiurd with me never to leave |
anything worth having behind, il there was |
the slightest chance OF my being abe TO car |
~ il away, am sure should not have |
bothered to ill my pockets
Come on, Ouatermain,' said Sir Henry, |
who was already standing on the first step OF |
the stone stair. Steady. will 20 first"
Mind where YOU put your feet; there |
may be some awful hole underneath" said l. |
Much more likely TO bo another room" |
said Sir Henry, rs he slowly descended. |
counting the steps As he went
When he got 10 fifteen he stopped |
Heres the bottom" lie said. Thank |
goodneSs! think its passage. Come on |
down"
Good descended next, and followed last |
pnd on reaching the bottom lit ore of the |
GNo IcmatnS matches. By its light we /
ruuld just Srr that we were standing in a |
narrow tunnel, which ran right aud LEFT al
rtghl angles to the staircase we had descend |
ed Before we could make out any more
the match burned my fingers and went ont.
Then aruse the delicate question of which |
way 10 turn or course, IL was impossible |
To know what the tunnel was or where
II ran 70, and yet 10 turn one way might |
lead us to safety, and the other TO deStruc-
ton. We were utterly perpleNed, till sud-
denly it struck Good that wnen had lit the
match the draught of the passage blew the
tame to the lett.
Let us go against the draught" he said
"atr draws inward, not outward